Uber's fleet of self-driving cars, which abandoned the streets of San Francisco Thursday after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked their licenses, will decamp to Arizona to resume their experiment.

Uber loaded its Volvo XC90 SUVs onto flatbed trucks Thursday afternoon in downtown San Francisco to prepare them for the trip to Arizona, where Gov. Doug Ducey plans to welcome them with open arms.

"Arizona welcomes Uber self-driving cars with open arms and wide open roads," Ducey said in a statement. "While California puts the brakes on innovation and change with more bureaucracy and more regulation, Arizona is paving the way for new technology and new businesses."

Uber stubbornly refused to apply for a California permit for its self-driving fleet, claiming that since humans were behind the wheel at all times the cars didn't need the $150 permit. The California DMV disagreed, and after imploring the San Francisco-based ride hailing company to obtain a permit, it revoked the SUVs' registrations, effectively ending the expiriment.

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"Our cars departed for Arizona this morning by truck," an Uber spokesperson said in a statement. "We'll be expanding our self-driving pilot there in the next few weeks, and we're excited to have the support of Governor Ducey."

Google, one of several companies to test self-driving vehicles in California with a permit, is also testing in Arizona, with a fleet of Lexus SUVs supervised by the general public roaming the streets of Phoenix.

Uber offered no specifics of its Arizona plans Thursday, so it's unclear exactly where or when it intends to resume its program. The company's original self-driving experiment in Pittsburg launched without regulatory hitches in September.

About the Author

As a hardware analyst, Tom tests and reviews laptops, peripherals, and much more at PC Labs in New York City. He previously covered the consumer tech beat as a news reporter for PCMag in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, where he rode in several self-driving cars and witnessed the rise and fall of many startups. Before that, he worked for PCMag's s... See Full Bio

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